Facing Asaba Harumasa's persistent questioning, Tsukishiro Yanagi adjusted her glasses once again, completely concealing her gaze behind the reflection of the lenses.
Only then did she speak in a slow, deliberate manner:
"First, you can forcefully drag the Section Chief to attend the monthly departmental meetings and the debriefing report meetings after every mission."
"Huh? Me?!"
Hearing this, Asaba Harumasa's eyes widened in disbelief as he pointed at himself and said:
"Yanagi, you aren't joking with me, are you?!"
However, Tsukishiro Yanagi ignored Asaba Harumasa's incredulous words and continued:
"The second method is to let Soukaku take your place at the debriefing meeting. She not only has to promise not to run around, but also not to go looking for food everywhere just because she's hungry."
"And the most important thing is that she must complete all the meeting minutes, summaries, and concluding work."
Upon hearing this, Asaba Harumasa's head drooped helplessly.
Leaving aside Soukaku's bottomless stomach, which would start craving food again less than half an hour after eating no matter how much she had consumed...
Although the task of taking minutes at a meeting wasn't considered difficult for ninety-nine percent of the people working in HAND...
Soukaku was precisely that one percent.
Just considering her educational level, having just started kindergarten and recognizing only a few characters...
Asking her to take meeting minutes was simply a fantasy.
It would be good enough if she could even understand what was being said, and you still expect her to record it?!
It was only then that Asaba Harumasa realized that in the enormous Hollow Special Operations Section 6, he was truly the only one who could attend the meeting as a deputy. He collapsed completely.
He said with a bit of a breakdown:
"Yanagi, you really are joking with me, aren't you?"
Seeing Asaba Harumasa's attitude of completely giving up, Tsukishiro Yanagi finally couldn't help but curl the corners of her mouth slightly.
She spread her hands and said:
"You were the one who joked with me first."
Sighing and forced to face reality, Asaba Harumasa finally resigned himself to his fate.
The Section Chief couldn't be counted on.
Even if Soukaku applied to go on her own initiative, one would have to weigh the consequences carefully.
In the end, he couldn't even find a single person who could rotate with him to attend the meetings.
Damn it!
Where in the world is there a Section Chief who vanishes instantly the moment they hear about a meeting?!!
And even calls it 'Training'!
But the reality was—there is one.
Not only is there one, but you also can't catch her.
Meanwhile, the Blue Oni girl, who had been obsessed with doodling, immediately put down the paintbrush in her hand when she saw the two return.
Wearing an incomparably brilliant smile, she greeted the two:
"Sister Yanagi! Harumasa! You're back!"
Hearing Soukaku's excited words, even Asaba Harumasa, who had completely lost the will to move, chose to lift his head again.
He waved his hand as a response and gave her a smile at the same time.
After that, he slumped back down.
Even the documents recording the minutes and content of the meeting just now were tossed aside by him like trash.
Tsukishiro Yanagi, looking at Soukaku in front of her, revealed a gentle smile like a mother and softly rubbed Soukaku's head as encouragement.
Subsequently.
Tsukishiro Yanagi turned her head to look at Hoshimi Miyabi, who had been completely unfindable before but had now leisurely appeared at her workstation in the office after the meeting ended.
Although she had just suppressed Asaba Harumasa's thought of slacking off and skipping the meeting...
Ultimately, the main reason for all this was still her own Section Chief's behavior of refusing to attend debriefing meetings no matter how much she was persuaded.
It was simply childish temper.
But before she could even attempt to persuade her with a couple of sentences...
Just then, Hoshimi Miyabi had already walked over and refuted with a serious face:
"I didn't skip the meeting on purpose."
Subconsciously twitching those upright, very slender, and fluffy-looking soft ears on her head, Hoshimi Miyabi affirmed without changing her expression:
"This belongs to a specific training I set for myself: 'Insist on not going to the debriefing meeting'. So even if I wanted to participate very much..."
"For the sake of training, I could only choose to painfully skip it."
As she spoke, she nodded in agreement with her own reason and said affirmatively:
"This was a helpless move."
Hearing these words from Hoshimi Miyabi, Asaba Harumasa couldn't help but reveal a pair of dead-fish eyes. He turned to look at Hoshimi Miyabi and retorted:
"Is that so? Since Chief Miyabi wanted to go so much, you must be very clear about the location of the meeting, right?"
"Ugh..."
Upon hearing Asaba Harumasa's dismantling question, Hoshimi Miyabi's body froze instantly.
Meeting... location?
As Hoshimi Miyabi, who had previously skipped not only all meetings required by headquarters but even her own Void Hunter conferment ceremony...
She really didn't know the location of the general meetings in HAND Headquarters.
After all, the only operational meetings for Section 6 that she almost never missed were always completed inside that small conference room within their own office.
So Hoshimi Miyabi really didn't know where exactly that large conference room was located in HAND Headquarters.
Thus, facing Asaba Harumasa's accusation, after hesitating for just a split second, Hoshimi Miyabi unhesitatingly chose to remain silent and quietly shifted her gaze away.
Then she decisively skipped this question.
After all, she had more urgent things to do right now!
Subsequently, Hoshimi Miyabi, who was in her seat just a moment ago, had already arrived beside Tsukishiro Yanagi in the next instant.
Hoshimi Miyabi stood on her tiptoes and gently pressed on Tsukishiro Yanagi's shoulders.
Then she said to her solemnly:
"Yanagi, for the upcoming period, I am going to conduct a training titled 'Search for and eliminate all hidden dangers buried beneath New Eridu recorded in the newly found intelligence'."
As she spoke, Hoshimi Miyabi glanced at the data Tsukishiro Yanagi had just brought back from the meeting.
And this prediction data on Hollow trends, obtained from the Wistar Society, had already stated one thing clearly.
That was, according to the current indices and trends, there wouldn't be a crisis of the magnitude where a new companion Hollow would suddenly erupt for at least a very long time.
Even if an accident occurred.
The time it would take for the indices to rise from the current level to a danger level that breached containment would definitely be enough for her to rush back to HAND Headquarters from anywhere in New Eridu.
Even if there were any surprises, there were still her three team members in Section 6.
Tsukishiro Yanagi's strength, as someone she frequently sparred with, didn't need much to be said.
Asaba Harumasa, who looked lazy every day and would move one less time if he could help it, was specifically requested by Hoshimi Miyabi from a certain Ace Department of the Anti-Hollow Division after that incident.
Being able to enter that department inherently represented his incomparably outstanding strength.
And as for the Oni, Soukaku...
Section 6 was never a place for playing house.
Possessing supernatural strength by birth, she couldn't become a member here simply by relying on her relationship with Tsukishiro Yanagi; she similarly possessed strength far surpassing ordinary people.
With these three present, even if unexpected dangers appeared, holding out until she rushed back would be absolutely no problem.
All problems had been resolved.
So Hoshimi Miyabi nodded with relief and said seriously to Tsukishiro Yanagi:
"It just so happens that the state of the Hollows is very stable during this period, so I will hand over the daily work of Section 6 to you."
"Eh? Eh?!!"
At this, Tsukishiro Yanagi, who was just smiling and watching the lively conversation between Asaba Harumasa and Hoshimi Miyabi, suddenly discovered in the next moment...
How did she suddenly become the subject of someone else's amusement without any warning?!
And this was too sudden!
But before she could react, in just a split second, Hoshimi Miyabi turned into a stream of light and vanished from Section 6.
In the empty Section 6 office, only a dark blue afterimage was left behind, indicating that she hadn't disappeared into thin air, but that Hoshimi Miyabi's speed had become fast enough to be invisible to the naked eye.
Looking at the gradually dissipating afterimage in front of her, Tsukishiro Yanagi instantly felt a bit bewildered.
Is this right?!
This isn't right, is it?!!
And Asaba Harumasa on the side directly threw the question he used to question Hoshimi Miyabi just now to the back of his mind.
He said with a similarly bewildered face:
"This... this definitely isn't right!"
But after reacting, Asaba Harumasa instantly felt a heartfelt sorrow.
With the Section Chief away, wouldn't he have to go to Tsukishiro Yanagi if he wanted to ask for leave?!
Don't!!!
When it came to the leave reasons he fabricated, Tsukishiro Yanagi wasn't as easy to bamboozle as Hoshimi Miyabi at all.
The difficulty level could be said to have risen straight to Hell Mode!
Now things have turned ugly...
Tsukishiro Yanagi, meanwhile, subconsciously adjusted her glasses, using the reflection of the lenses to block her slightly flustered gaze.
Subsequently, she said firmly:
"Wrong! This is definitely wrong!"
However, unlike the part Asaba Harumasa felt was wrong, in Tsukishiro Yanagi's view, Hoshimi Miyabi was most likely deceived by some messy stuff she encountered again this time.
It was just that although she knew Hoshimi Miyabi would end up being deceived from time to time, if she couldn't find the source, there was no way to persuade Hoshimi Miyabi to come back!
Things having come to this, although it was a bit unreliable, she could only try asking the only eyewitness present earlier.
So Tsukishiro Yanagi turned her head and asked Soukaku, who was looking bewildered at the side, unclear why Hoshimi Miyabi had suddenly disappeared:
"Soukaku, when we went to the meeting just now, what did the Chief do in the office?"
Hearing this, Soukaku immediately closed her eyes, tapping her head with both hands, trying hard to recall the previous situation.
Fortunately, while doodling earlier, she had indeed looked up at Hoshimi Miyabi.
Very quickly, she recalled the only difference in what Hoshimi Miyabi did today compared to what she usually did...
"Ah! I thought of it!"
Soukaku slammed her fist into her palm and said:
"Boss seemed to have turned on the computer she usually never opens today, and then stared at the screen for a long time!"
"Computer? She wasn't deceived by a passerby this time?"
Regardless, since there was a clue, Tsukishiro Yanagi naturally wouldn't let it go.
Fortunately, in order to let Tsukishiro Yanagi help her process documents, Hoshimi Miyabi's computer passwords were all in an open state to Tsukishiro Yanagi.
Very quickly, Hoshimi Miyabi's computer was opened by her.
The website viewed previously was also retrieved.
And as Tsukishiro Yanagi and Asaba Harumasa—who was preparing to continue asking for leave—looked at the website named 'The Grotesque Shack' used for collecting supernatural incidents before them...
For a moment, the two looked at each other in dismay.
Among them, countless popular posts appeared to be fake at a glance to the two of them.
And that most popular article about a monster becoming a vengeful spirit possessing a human after death looked even more fake—so fake it couldn't be any faker.
But thinking of Hoshimi Miyabi's personality during their months of interaction...
The two couldn't help but speak in unison:
"This is bad, the Chief didn't actually take it for real, did she?!"
Meanwhile.
After listening to Andrew's analysis of the monster invasion, the task of collecting traces of other monsters that might have transmigrated had already been taken up by Meow-Da under his constant volunteering.
Now that Belle was resting in Silver City, Wise was controlling Eous via the H.D.D System to set off together with him.
The two prepared to search for traces of monsters together.
And as a Felyne, Meow-Da was an expert in searching for traces.
Back when they were in the Monster Hunter World, this kind of ecological survey work involving searching for traces was mostly the responsibility of Meow-Da.
Andrew was generally responsible for beating up those monsters that intruded during the investigation.
Later, after becoming proficient, it was even more common for him to go out for investigations alone.
So even if he wasn't familiar with New Eridu's environment, with Wise following along to provide general knowledge, presumably no problems would arise.
Thus, Andrew confidently handed this matter over to Meow-Da.
At the same time, Andrew, who had already returned to the Seliana Smithy, was calculating what else he could make with the Diablos materials he carved, aside from that necessary set of armor.
And speaking of armor.
Regarding these materials, which were at least seventy to eighty percent similar in appearance to the Bloodbath Diablos, with the only difference being that the color wasn't all black but a yellow gradient...
Andrew couldn't help but have some different ideas.
After all, ever since the concert, wearing that Odogaron armor had also become an object that easily attracted attention.
So a new set of armor was a must!
But one had to know, the reason Andrew had a fresh memory of the Bloodbath Diablos, which he had only seen in the index, was because the incomparably cool equipment of the Bloodbath Diablos he saw in the index back then had made Andrew envious for a long time.
It was just a pity that no matter how he searched back then, Andrew could only find ordinary Diablos in the New World; even a Diablos similar in appearance didn't exist.
But now.
Looking at the portion of Diablos materials in his hand, Andrew instantly felt the favor of fate!
The materials he had begged for but couldn't get back then were actually obtained by accident after coming to New Eridu!
However, although the index recorded the method for crafting the corresponding equipment, that Diablos which invaded the concert wasn't a true Deviant existence after all.
The material strength naturally couldn't compare either.
So using the materials on hand, even if he used the same method, he actually couldn't craft the authentic equipment at all.
In terms of strength, it was even more impossible to compare with the original version.
But for Andrew, this wasn't an issue at all!
____
New Story: Frieren: Capturing Aura at the Start
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